MICRO-BIO

• I am a second year PhD Student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where I focus on the subfields of Political Theory and Inter-Intra Disciplinary Studies. I have taken several courses in Political Economy, Comparative Public Policy, Critical...More

  I am a second year PhD Student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where I focus on the subfields of Political Theory and Inter-Intra Disciplinary Studies. I have taken several courses in Political Economy, Comparative Public Policy, Critical Race Theory, Feminist Politics: Translations, Translocalities and Topologies, International Law, Global Human Security Regimes, etc. that have sparked my interest in global studies. I see myself as a scholar and student of globalization and global trends as it menifests itself in the global south countries. The paper I wish to present in this conference is also about the role of international human rights regime in some of the central African countries of the great lakes region. I see the nuances and dynamics of politics in authoritarian regimes particularly in the global south as one of the pressing concerns for the profession of Political Science and International Relations. This must be an interdisciplinary endeavor and should seek to empower, rather than simply analyze, the subjects and lives of the global south populations. During my undergraduate, I presented a 50 pages long research paper at the Inaugural Diversity, (In)equity, and Social Justice Undergraduate Research Conference at Harvard University. This paper was on "The Lived Experiences of Trans-individuals in Lahore, Pakistan." This presentation and research was a reinforcement of my own self identity and life struggle as a gay Muslim in Pakistan. I believe my research and scholarship must help bring a step forward for the marginalized communities. Global Studies and the themes of this conference match my interests at so many levels, since I have been both an activist, NGO bureaucrat and now an academic in my lifetime. I started "Project Code Orange" at Lahore University of Management Sciences as a registered NGO for developing a culturally sensitive sexual health education curricula to be taught by secondary school teachers in Pakistan. This was both an academic as well as activist effort. But this was truly 'global' and trans-local in nature since the curricula we were working on was provided to our organization's Harvard Chapter by the UN Population Fund office in Maldives while the scholars and practitioners we interviewed and consulted for editing included Pakistanis and non-Pakistanis alike. These experiences have made me increasingly interested in dismantling the nuances of how globalization will unfold in the years and decades to come and where do academics stand at that juncture. Growing up in the slums of Karachi, Pakistan as a gay person has given me a vintage point through which I can raise questions and register certain social realities that might be invisible to those who are in positions of power and privilege. This conference will empower me as a scholar and as an activist to push the agenda of human rights and scholarship on global south. 

  Less

EXPERIENCE

• Millennium Campus Network Boston

  • Chair of the Curricular Advisory Board
  • November 2017 to Present

• University of Massachusetts Amherst

  • Teaching Assistant
  • September 2016 to Present

• University of Pennsylvania

  • Research Assistant to Dr. Syed Noman ul Haq
  • June 2015 to August 2015

• Harvard Kennedy School

  • Field Research Volunteer
  • December 2015 to February 2016

• Project Code Orange, Lahore Pakistan

  • Co-Founder and President
  • October 2015 to May 2016

• US department of State

  • Cultural ambassador of Pakistan/ Exchange Scholar
  • January 2015 to May 2015

• Assessment and Strengthening Program – USAID

  • Research Intern
  • May 2014 to July 2014

• Akhuwat Foundation, Regional Head Office Lahore

  • Research Intern
  • December 2014 to May 2014

• The Aga Khan University Karachi

  • Public Health Intern
  • December 2014 to January 2014

• UN Soliya Dialogue of Civilizations Program

  • Team Leader and Organizing Member
  • September 2013 to December 2013

• Lahore University of Management Sciences

  • Full-Time Teaching Assistant

• Intersections International New York City

  • UN Fellow, Global Peacemaking Intern

EDUCATION

• University of Massachusetts Amherst

  • PhD, Political Science
  • September 2016 to Present

  Graduate Courses Taken: Rules of War, Political Inquiry, Postcolonial Political Thought, Human Security, Comparing Public Policy, Debating Development, International Law, Feminist Ethnography, Democratization, Feminist Politics, History of US Social Policy, Comparative Political Thought, Interpretive Methods

• Lahore University of Management Sciences

  • B.Sc Honors (Economics and Politics)
  • September 2011 to December 2015

  Political economy of development, Macroeconomics, Anthropology of the State, Regional Histories of Pakistan, Issues in Economic Policy, Econometrics, Statistics and Data Analysis, Religion and World Politics, Muhammad Iqbal and Charles Pierce

Links

• Express Tribune Blogs
• Intersections International Blogposts
• Literati Pakistan Blogs: